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Opening booklets:M50 Ross Motorway

Opened in 1960, the Ross Motorway (sometimes known as the Ross Spur and, more commonly, the M50) was one of the UK's very first motorways. The booklet published to commemorate its completion and opening is gloriously and unashamedly proud of this small but pleasant route, describing it as "one of the most beautiful roads in Britain".

Being so early in the 1960s motorway programme, the M50 was sometimes referred to as an experimental motorway, and this booklet describes not just the road that was built and opened, but also contains huge amounts of detail on the motorway programme in general, rules for motorway driving, the process of planning motorways, how route numbering works and even arrangements for gritting and salting it in winter.